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This has happened to me several times now. I train Brazilian jiu jitsu, and sometimes after a particularly intensive warm-up, I'll get these terrible cramps in my lower abdomen. Similar to menstrual cramps, but more centered than toward the sides like my menstrual cramps usually are. And they're definitely not menstrual cramps, just in the same area and feel similar in terms of pain. Twice now they've been so bad I've almost left class; not only are they painful, but I'll also feel a weird sort of stomach upset, not like nausea, but maybe like stomach cramps. That part isn't painful, but it does feel like there's some type of tightening in/around my stomach. Today at class, it was so bad I just straight up had to sit, and then lie, down for several minutes and drink some water before they went away - and poof, they were just gone. No gradual lessening, they just stopped altogether. That's never happened, where I've had to physically stop training, it was crazy. Also, I can roll just fine, it seems to be aerobic, cardiovascular exercise that triggers this.

So...does anyone else experience these types of cramps? Women in particular? A girl I train with said she would get the same thing from intensive exercise but hadn't had it happen for a while. Can they be effectively treated like normal cramps? And speaking of cramps, any suggestions on how to combat them in general? Thanks in advance.

happens to me too! if its going to happen, it happens early. I can't walk it off, I have to sit or lie down. It's horrible pain! And they all of a sudden go away after 5-10 minutes and I can resume whatever it was I was doing. If it happens, it is usually within 1 week before my period. I make sure to warm-up extra gradually, even start the workout off easy. Then I'll be ok to finish my workout with sprints or whatever. But for me, it's definitely induced by higher intensity cardio. I've never had it occur during weight lifting or easy stuff like walking, yoga, etc. I've tried looking up online what this could be, and I still have no clue. Adding extra electrolytes didn't do anything.

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Do you have endometriosis? I found this thread on this forum, and it seems like lots of the women who posted in there have endometriosis. I don't know if I do; to my knowledge, I don't. Fitting that it was in a running thread, we'd just done several minutes of jogging (that's a lot for me...I have asthma and tendinitis in my knees so I typically don't run much). Yeah, the pain is horrible, and it's like my entire insides are collectively spasming or something. If I had had much in my digestive system, I probably would've felt that sudden urge to to go to the bathroom and/or throw up that they talk about in the thread. Such a mystery to me!

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Probably a sign that you're diverting so much blood flow from your intestines with your intense warm-up that they are starving for oxygen. Same reason why some people puke during really intense exercise.